A program to enhance medical services in 55 underserved areas would be revised within one month to exclude dentists with foreign degrees, Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) said yesterday, after pressure to disallow it.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday requested that the ministry adopt stricter validation of foreign dentistry degrees, following talks with the Taiwan Dentist Alliance, which criticized the program for opening doors to dentistry students who were educated overseas.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) at a post-Cabinet meeting news conference cited Cho as saying that the program should focus on boosting mobile medical care capacity, funding dental device procurements at local public health centers, compensation for medical practitioners, and encouraging local doctors and dentists to work in remote areas.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
The ministry should adjust the program according to those principles and propose a revised version for approval by the Executive Yuan within a month, Cho was cited as saying.
The annual internship quota of 50 dentistry students with foreign degrees must not be increased, and the program should be revised to ensure that dental services in remote areas are provided by eligible and reliable dentists, Lee quoted Cho as saying.
Chiu said the second phase of the program would not be suspended, but revisions would be made to completely exclude dentists with foreign degrees.
The ministry would revise the program and send it to the Executive Yuan for approval, with the aim that the program would come into effect from next year as scheduled, he added.
Chiu said the program would be revised based on the three principles requested by Cho.
First, the locations to implement the program would still be the 55 underserved areas that lack dentists, with incentives such as scholarships to encourage dentists born in those areas and receiving education at local colleges to return to their hometown to work.
Second, the NT$2.4 billion (US$73.99 million) budget for the program would be used to fund improved dental devices in remote areas, so that local public health centers could provide better dental services for elderly people.
Last, the program’s budget would also be combined with National Health Insurance reimbursements to enrich the workforce, which would boost mobile medical care capabilities while encouraging dentists to stay and provide quality service in remote areas.
Taiwan Healthcare Reform Foundation secretary-general Lin Ya-hui (林雅惠) said incentives would have limited effect in retaining medical talent, and called for the allocation of resources for the long term to improve medical service insufficiencies in remote areas.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS